Mahler with New Ears

[woofer]

First post here.  Lover of just about all classical music by turns and americana/roots as well.
Decided to embark on an effort to displace from their thrones my go to Mahler symphony recordings and seek out a new (recorded in last decade) standard bearer for each.  Hope to spend about a week on each listening to some well received competitors.  Also hope to id a different conductor for each work.

So, for #1 - my listening list includes Honeck/Pitt/Exton, Lintu/Finnish RSO/Ondine and Nezet-Seguin/BRSO/BrKlassik.  What else should be on my list?

[Mirror Image]

When it comes to Mahler, Bernstein is the conductor that brings home the bacon and fries it. Either of his Sony or DG cycles will do. Personally, I love his DG set more the Sony, but many will disagree.

[brunumb]

So, for #1 - my listening list includes Honeck/Pitt/Exton, Lintu/Finnish RSO/Ondine and Nezet-Seguin/BRSO/BrKlassik.  What else should be on my list?

Hengelbrock / NDR Sinfonieorchester / Sony

[Rinaldo]

(sorry)

[Monsieur Croche]

Boulez recorded all of Mahler, with about four different world-class orchestras over a number of years.  All those are on DGG.

Opinions are divided (what a shocker :-) but I would strongly recommend checking each of these along with other suggestions for the more recent Mahler recordings.  Imo, Boulez excelled in the late romantic, early modern, giving just the right flexibility of tempi to Schoenberg, Berg, etc. along with Mahler.

Boulez is almost without parallel in keeping the tempo relationships throughout these extensive works in perfect balance, and his control, again overall, of dynamics throughout a piece is also stunning.

The 1st symphony is with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  Check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UskC4VILUeg


Best regards

P.s.

[Drasko]

So, for #1 - my listening list includes Honeck/Pitt/Exton, Lintu/Finnish RSO/Ondine and Nezet-Seguin/BRSO/BrKlassik.  What else should be on my list?

Fischer/Budapest/Channel

[woofer]

 

The 1st symphony is with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  Check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UskC4VILUeg


Best regards

P.s.


Thanks for the rec.  When I get to #8 I'll give the Boulez a shot.  I set myself an arbitrary cut off that the recording must be from past decade.  I think 8 might be the last of Boulez's cycle and only one to meet that criteria.
[/quote]

[woofer]

Hengelbrock / NDR Sinfonieorchester / Sony

Thanks, will try to find this one.  Don't have it in collection and have not located it on Spotify.

[woofer]

Fischer/Budapest/Channel

thanks - I like Fischer for the 4th I think,  but will give this one a shot too.  Ulitimately, I am shooting for a roster of all different conductors.

[Cato]

Boulez recorded all of Mahler, with about four different world-class orchestras over a number of years.  All those are on DGG.

The 1st symphony is with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  Check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UskC4VILUeg

YES!  By all means, check it out!  The DGG "4-D" sound and the performance are marvelous to incredible!

[Mister Sharpe]

Much to be preferred, Mahler with New Forehead :

[Heck148]

Boulez recorded all of Mahler, with about four different world-class orchestras over a number of years.  All those are on DGG.

Boulez/Chicago recording of Mahler 9 ['95] is really outstanding...it's not within the last decade....but it's a great performance - esp inner mvts.

[Karl Henning]

Mahler with New Ears

And here I was sure I was going to see a photoshopped picture of the composer's head . . . .

[Pat B]

Hengelbrock / NDR Sinfonieorchester / Sony

+1 to that.

I also like Haitink's Chicago 3rd (October 2006) a lot. His Concertgebouw 4th from 2 weeks later was highly praised, but I'm not that keen on it.

I enjoyed Dudamel's 9th but need to give it another listen.

[woofer]

I found a youtube with Hengelbrock and NDR conducting the #1 in 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z2lR5jqRQo

I will give that a listen.

[aukhawk]

Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi / Japan PO on Exton?  His recording of Mahler 7th appears to have a release date of 2007 so just about qualifies I think.  I love the analytical close-miked recording (and matching conducting style) which suits the inner movements of this symphony very well (see also Boulez/DG) however it all goes a bit too far when Kobayashi's vocalisations are also close-miked and faithfully recorded ... sounds like a horrible rasping distortion, really spoils an otherwise fine version, and the same problem seems to afflict his other Mahler recordings in this series too (there is also an older set with the Czech Philhamonic, I haven't listened to any of these).

Honeck is wonderful in the 1st - the opening is the best I've heard - but he too is let down by the recording in the 3rd movement, where the marching beat is far too suppressed - possibly worked well for the live audience, but not so good for the recording.

[PerfectWagnerite]

+1 to that.

I also like Haitink's Chicago 3rd (October 2006) a lot.

Yes a great M3.
A sleeper choice is Litton/Dallas, as good a M3 as any.

THis recording is OOP but if you can get it for a reasonable price it is well worth it:



Not to everyone's taste as Maderna drives some odd tempo and balance at times but the modernism and terror that Mahler infuses into this piece comes through like few other recordings. The orchestra at times don't sound particularly together but it really doesn't matter as in a market flooded with M9's (most of them with nothing really to say) this one is different.

[woofer]

Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi / Japan PO on Exton?  His recording of Mahler 7th appears to have a release date of 2007 so just about qualifies I think.  I love the analytical close-miked recording (and matching conducting style) which suits the inner movements of this symphony very well (see also Boulez/DG) however it all goes a bit too far when Kobayashi's vocalisations are also close-miked and faithfully recorded ... sounds like a horrible rasping distortion, really spoils an otherwise fine version, and the same problem seems to afflict his other Mahler recordings in this series too (there is also an older set with the Czech Philhamonic, I haven't listened to any of these).

Honeck is wonderful in the 1st - the opening is the best I've heard - but he too is let down by the recording in the 3rd movement, where the marching beat is far too suppressed - possibly worked well for the live audience, but not so good for the recording.

Kobayashi, the guy Hurwitz calls the nosiest man ever to ascend the podium, who grunts, shouts and stamps his way obtrusively through every performance?  I have been listening to Inbal with the Tokyo Orchestra today on Exton.  He is bad enough humming, singing and otherwise locuting pretty much non-stop.  It is really too bad.  The Inbal M3 is a great performance and the engineering on the recording spectacular.  The problem is Inbal's noise and the vocal soloist is mediocre, along with the children's choir too obscured.  If not for the poor choral parts, the stuff that is supposed to be there and the stuff that's not, this would be a real winner

[kishnevi]

Yes a great M3.
A sleeper choice is Litton/Dallas, as good a M3 as any.

THis recording is OOP but if you can get it for a reasonable price it is well worth it:



Not to everyone's taste as Maderna drives some odd tempo and balance at times but the modernism and terror that Mahler infuses into this piece comes through like few other recordings. The orchestra at times don't sound particularly together but it really doesn't matter as in a market flooded with M9's (most of them with nothing really to say) this one is different.

Yes, double yes to that Maderna recording
But two other recent recordings I like at least as much as the Maderna are Zinman and Dudamel.  Zinman does the finale as a perfect ascent to a serene heaven, and Dudamel lives up to his hype for a change.

[woofer]

and the winner for recent (10 year) Mahler 1 is  Jurowski/LPO/LPO from a group that also included Lintu, Honeck, Nezet-Seguin, and Thierry Fischer/UtahSO/Ref.
Lintu - great opening, tension and apprehension, great bird calls but nothing special after 1st movement, Fisher, nothing wrong, competent reading but would buy only to support a local orchestra, Honeck pretty good but I believe the 1st is not his best Mahler effort to date.  Nezet-Seguin was a close runner up.

since it's Mahler with new ears, why not include the Blumine as a second movement, it works in this reading.  Mahler's symphonic archetecture spawls already so I have no issues with inserting the original movement.  Some have speculated that its removal had more to do with audience impatience than with artistic judgement on the composer's part.  playing and interpretation are solid across all five movements, lucious sound.

options for #2 recorded in last decade that anyone would like to suggest are welcomed, it will be a much narrower field to choose from.